


A Beast for Thee

by CountlessUntruths (KaliCephirot)



Category: Half Life Trilogy - Sally Green
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Beauty and the Beast AU, F/M, M/M, fairytale AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-11
Updated: 2015-09-11
Packaged: 2018-04-20 05:01:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4774457
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KaliCephirot/pseuds/CountlessUntruths
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You have surely heard the story about the Beauty that was kidnapped by a terrible Beast, but through her love, turned him into a Prince, right? Well, the stories get things a little bit wrong. Yes, there was a Beauty, and there was a Beast, but there was also a Prince. Here, sit down. Let me tell you the true story, how it really goes. (Beauty and the Beast AU)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Azartti](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Azartti/gifts).



_If you had half a mind_  
_Leave worldly things behind_  
_Devote to being kind_  
_You to me_  
_A beast for thee_  
_\- A Beast for Thee, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy_

 

You've heard the story, I'm sure. A prince was cursed to transform into a beast until they'd fall in love and they were loved in return, a beautiful maiden who fell in love despite how the beast looked and her pure love broke the spell, and the once-beast-now-again-man and the maiden lived happily ever after. There were roses or some stupid plant involved.

You've heard of it, right?

Well that's shite, and it's not how it goes. Not how my da told it to me, anyway. Here's the true story.

For starters: when the Beast and the Girl had been children, they had, at one time, played together, before the Girl's family chased the skinny little lad who wasn't much of a beastly Beast yet deep into the forest. It had been an innocent play, no harm done, but the Girl's family was superstitious and strong which is the worst combination you could've asked.

Now, don't let anyone tell you otherwise, because see, the Girl ran away. There was no blackmail, fuck that, no exchange of people. The Girl's family was terrible to her, kept her locked and wouldn't let her out and they pro'ly wanted to marry her to someone, but that's me thinking 'bout it, dearie, and not something my da' ever told me, so nevermind. The point is that the Girl ran away, ran all the way into the Beast's den, not knowing where it was because she had never been to the forst, not since she was a bony lass of eleven or twelve. And when the Beast found her, he rememberd his childhood friend, and she remembered her childhood friend and thus she stayed with him.

Those were happy days, and no-one should tarnish them with idle talk of hostages and people staying out of trickery. They loved each other then and that's why she stayed and that's why he kept her safe.

What the story doesn't say is that the Beast was always kind to the Girl and this she, who had known little kindness in her family's house, she recalled the best so she never thought of him a Beast, and in return she was as kind to him as she was beautiful, and she _was_ very, very beautiful: she had the softest golden hair and summer-sky blue eyes and the Beast would lay his head on her lap and the Girl would thread clever little fingers through his hair, as you do with a dog and he would dream of curses being broken and being with the Girl, 'cause he did love her, as best as he knew how to love, anyway.

For her, I'll say this: yes, the Girl loved the Beast, but only the Beast that showed himself during the day, when he was mostly a person, albeit one with sharp black torn nails and sharp teeth that were almost fangs and terrible dark eyes. But the Girl saw how gentle he was, luvie, how timid he was with her, and she thought the old tales from her village where nothing but lies crafted by silly old bints like myself, dearie, fairytales to scare children into behaving and washing behind their ears.

And what you have to remember, luvvie, is that the stories grandmothers with much too time in their hands always are part true.

The Beast was kind to her, and warm, and when the Girl was cold at night, the Beast covered them both with furs and he laid down besides her and she would curl besides him, in his arms. And she would think of herself that maybe there was no curse, that maybe it was just folk's talk, for he was still mostly human, only a lonely one, and she would tell herself that his almost claws and his almost fangs and his fearsome eyes were only hiding his true self and she would sleep, safe and warm and convinced that her love was that of a song and would end in happily ever after.

Now, luvie, you must remember this: old tales and folk talk have a reason to exist. Some exagerate 'em, some forget 'em, some add to 'em, but they have truth in 'em, if you listen carefully.

The Beast _was_ a Beast.

Late at night, when the Girl slumbered in his den, the Beast would move away from his love and leave her sleeping, moving so gently so she wouldn't wake and the it-he Beast would hunt for doe and foxes, it-he would hunt for the wild cat and fish.

It-he would hunt for the hunters who dared to enter his forest, and those it wouldn't eat them, simply kill them and leave them to be found as its-his warning and promise of what would happen, if anyone was to go where the it-he Beast roamed.

But the Beast would go back to almost a person come sunrise and he would wash himself clean with river water and he would chew mint to hide the blood-stench from his mostly human mouth and he would not forget being an it, but he would pretend for his love.

Very well done, lad! You remembered the curse. There was a knife, you see, a magical knife, not a rose. Roses may sound romantic, but what good are they against a beast with sharp claws and sharp fangs? Not good at all, I tell you.

For, you see, the Beast's family had been cursed, many a year ago, and through the curse, it would be so that when the moon rose, so would the Beast, and the only way for the Beast to become human again, it-they would have to cut away its-their own hide and fur, would have to cut itself-themselves free with that cursed knife from the wilderness that existed inside, and only then could the Beast go back to being human.

Of course this hurt, you daft thing! Many a member of the Edge family - the Beast's family name, yes - ended up losing themselves to the Night, and they let the curse kill the humanity in them, when the pain got to be too much.

And Nathan - that was the Beast's human name, yes, now shush! - was weary of this torment, but he was hoping, you see, that Annalise's love would break him free of it.

Because yes, true love was the way out of the curse: because if someone who loved him fully were to cut him free, then Nathan would be free of the curse and the curse would end with him and while Nathan loved the forest and he loved the wildness inside him, he loved Annalise much more and he thought she loved him.

And she did. The human him she loved very, very much, perhaps even truthfully. But she never loved him fully. He never let her see the Beast, you see, and she never believed the Beast was Nathan anyway. There was fault over the two of them.

Because, see, her family went, not to look for her, but to kill the Beast, as it had been doing for generations and generations against every member of the Edge family. And perhaps if it had been morning, if Nathan had been his human self, he would've made another choice.

The Beast saw an enemy and it-he hunted, and this time the voices were so familiar, the screams went so deeply inside Annalise and while usually she slept through the night, that night she woke up. She ran through the forest, scared for her love, calling for him, praying that he was alright...

And she found the Beast, its-his muzzle deep inside her brother's belly, red on the floor, on it's dark fur. And then it-he looked at her and Annalise knew those dark, moonless eyes.

"Monster, monster!" She cried, in fear and in heartbreak, and when her eyes fell upon the knife - yes, exactly the knife that Nathan would have used to cut himself free - she picked it up. "Don't come near me!"

And the Beast was still Nathan, still had Nathan inside, wasn't an animal concience just yet. So when it-he tried to approach Annalise, she struck the knife deep inside its-his shoulderblade so it-he howled in pain and heartbreak for the curse also stated, that if the cut made was made with hate or fear, then the animal skin would forever stay.

"I hate you, I hate you!" Annalise sobbed before she turned around and ran away, and they never crossed paths again.


	2. 2

Hmm?

Of course that's not all, don't be daft. Yes, some of that is the part most people know and yes that's the part that gets silly little nits oooh-ing and aaah-ing and making absolute idiots of themselves.

So, we have that the Beast was betrayed by the woman he had loved. I don't know if I could blame Annalise, see, you remember miss Lettie Hatter, the butcher's wife? She used to be Lettie Jones a long time ago, before you were born, before she widowed. But her first husband, her Bernie wasn't a nice man, no sireh; a drunkard, he was, and he had a mean punch and he would yell and fight and even three houses down from them, their screams would keep your mom and uncles awake and how many times did Lettie tell me as we washed our clothes and mended to them that she hated the old bastard? And yet, when the mines collapsed and she was told that he had been killed, at first she sobbed like a babe, that she did, and the relief came later, much later. So even if Annalise held no love for her family, even when part of her love for Nathan was true, what would that had been, to see your true love murdering your past.

But well, that's not for me to judge, I'm sure she had to live with herself and that's the worst that one could hope for anyone, living-with-yourself-and-regrets. And Nathan-Beast, its-his wound healed, but its-his heart remained broken and oozing despair.

And that's when we got the Prince. Good for nothin' people will tell it like rubbish, that the Prince was blessed by a kindly fairy godmother that gave him beauty and charm and brains, but that's bollocks. The King and Queen were lookers those two were, and the proof was that their daughter, the Princess, was also very beautiful, the Prince was kind and charming and he was smart pro'lly 'cause he spent half his childhood reading, but to say that he was blessed by the Fair Kind it's daft. The Fair Kind do, on occasion, get involved with babies and gifts, but they don't make gifts, they make bargains, and they invest and they expect to be paid back, those do.

No, lad, I don't know enough, I know just what everyone knows: milk outside the door on the nights of the full moon, carefull with the fairy rings, never give them your true name, that's common sense, dearie, And I'd rather not know more, thank you very much, lest the Fair Kind grow interested in me and mine.

Though, I will say this: the Prince _was_ beautiful, certainly enough to make idiots believe it came through a blessing and for all those stupid comments about bards coming to sing songs about his hair and painters created new colors to match the golden-brown of his eyes, queens and princesses quested for his love, but the Prince, warmly, kindly, would say no to all of them, saying that it was because he wanted to marry only out of love, but mostly pro'lly 'cause he was as bent as they come, y'see.

So the Prince lived happily in his little kingdom: the kingdom was small enough that most other kingdoms were content on letting it be with maybe one small battle here and there every century or so, so it didn't have to worry much about that, and what land they had was fruitful and the people were as happy as they can be, I suppose, and the Prince's family was a also mostly happy one because every family has problems, and the Prince didn't want much in his life just yet. So one day, while he was out enjoying himself, the Prince didn't took care where he was and he set foot inside a fairy ring.

Remember what I said about fairies, luvie? That's a good lad.

The prince found himself at the court of one of the great Fairy Lords, and he was more beautiful than you can even imagine. But fairies, fairies like pretty humans too, and the Prince was more than pretty enough, so the Fairy Lord took a liking to the young Prince. And the young Prince was, well. Young. And a man, which is a fault that few can correct and most do not, and he used his stupid brain rather than the one over his shoulders. And... hmph, well, you can imagine what happened.

But the Prince got into it -- oh, don't you make me put you over my knee and redden your arse, lad, I will! -- the Prince always had in mind going back. So once he was ready, he told so to the Fairy Lord, asked to be sent back home. Very corteously, of course, and very grateful, because that never hurts with the Fair Kind. But the Fairy Lord hadn't tired of the Prince as it was.

"Stay with me, o Prince, and I shall make you ruler of my land, everyone will hear your commands," the Fairy Lord offered, but the Prince knew that kingship waited for him in his future, and he had no rush to do that just yet, so he said no.

"Stay with me, o Prince, and I'll give you eternal youth. You will always be beautiful, forever more, and you will outlive mankind" but for the Prince, who loved his family and who loved his little sister more than he loved anyone else, this was a terrible thought, so he said no.

"Stay with me, o Prince, and I shall love you until your dying breathe, I will look to no-one else, desire no-one else. I'll be yours and yours alone," and at this the Prince softened his voice, gave the Fairy Lord his best smile and he said thank you, but he refused again, because he didn't love the Fairy Lord and he wouldn't lie to him.

But the Fair Kind live of half truths and deceit, see, and the Fairy Lord didn't take it kindly being rejected. Gone was the playful lover, and instead was a spurned, prideful, arrogant Lord.

"Thrice I offered and thrice you denied me," the fairy said, his eyes terrible. "Know then, o Prince, that I curse you, for family and kingdom and love will be unknown to you, and until you make death renounce it's prey and give life when it's gone, everything and everyone you love will perish."

And before the Prince could say anything at all, he found himself back at his kingdom.

First came the wars that destroyed most of the kingdom and killed most of the citizens: the few survivors ran far away and had to start all over again and then, one by one, the Prince had to bury his Mother, his Father, and his sister, whom he loved more than he loved anyone else. With his kingdom destroyed and his family gone, the no-longer-Prince, just Gabriel, left the sad remains of the place he once was happy and started traveling. He was still handsome and he was still pleasant and graceful, so he didn't have much troubles getting the odd job here and there for coin and for food.

Because see, Gabriel knew that he couldn't fall in love, not ever, so he decided to travel all around the world if he had to, never to settle down, hoping that he'd be able to cheat the curse from killing someone else he could possibly love.

So during his travels, as he ate stew and golden brown bread, just fresh from the oven and still tasting of butter, Gabriel heard of this wild tale of a Beast that was terrorizing the people of a village down north, how it had killed and maimed and no-one could seem to stop it. So Gabriel decided to go there and see just how truth this was.

No, Gabriel wasn't suicidal, thank you very much, but he was a young man of eighteen which, really, in my opinion might just mean the same, and don't you dare roll your eyes at me, lad, I should know, I'm the mother of three boys and the grandmother of seven boys, you included, so I know.

But that was, in the end, how the Prince went to meet the Beast.


	3. 3

Now, dearie, have you heard people say, how you can't travel through the forest when it's the full moon or you'll end up dead, because there's a terrible monster hidden?

Yes, they were talking about Nathan. Or the it-he Beast, at east. And they were talking about the old hunting teams that would go inside the forest to try and hunt it-he, and few, if any, of the hunters ever returned, and good riddance that was!

When Gabriel arrived to our village, he did what he did best. He was charming and graceful and kind and he learned as much as possible about the Beast from the rumours that the town people gave. He learned that the Beast had family in the village, a brother and two sisters. The brother was the village's healer and he had people around him all the time. One of the sisters had a bookshop and she didn't seem to have anyone following her. The other one was the head hunter, Jessica Byrn. And no, she wasn't a martyr or a savior, so forget that immediately.

Gabriel was curious about this terrible Beast that, however, never attacked children, that never attacked people who were honestly going through his forest if they were unguarded. There was a rumour that the Beast had even, on ocassions, saved lost people from being killed by another wild animal. Those rumours, put besides the half eaten bodies of the Hunters.

So while he got a job here and there as an errand boy, he kept his eyes on the healer, who could never go alone to pick up the herbs he needed and who wasn't allowed, not ever, to go to the forest.

Until one night, he caught a figure sliding out, and he followed them, deep within the forest, and he was honestly expecting to see Arran, the healer, and instead he got the bookstore owner, Deborah, kneeling by the huge body of the wounded Beast.

"Let me see, oh, that looks bad..." she treated the Beast's wounds and he let her, and Gabriel could see a sorrowful expression on its-his intelligent face. "Arran wishes he could come, but they keep him too guarded. David is helping me... oh, Nathan, this is terrible."

Gabriel only started feeling bad about being nosy when Deborah hugged the Beast, because Beast or not, it-he was her little brother still, and you don't stop being family as long as you love each other. And when he started to leave, he made noise, and the Beast heard him and he attacked. It was only because Gabriel was so quick that he avoided sharp claws over his side, but he wasn't able to stop the Beast from pinning him.

Gabriel, who was very smart, made something very stupid. He gave the it-he Beast his very best smile, the one with the dimples and said.

"I'm Gabriel. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Well yes, if I had been the Beast, I would have eaten his face right then for being a smartass, but the story doesn't end yet. The Beast did growl at him, and eating his face _was_ probably the nex thing he was planning to do, but Deborah stopped him.

"Nathan, stop! I know him!"

"I am so very sorry," Gabriel said. "I don't mean any harm, I was just curious."

"It's okay, Nathan," Deborah insisted. "He's not with the Hunters. He comes to the store to talk about books.He helps a bit around the store and then I let him take one or two books home for a few days."

Ever so slowly, the Beast moved off Gabriel and Gabriel, who didn't have his pretty head completely full of rocks, knew better than to move suddenly. He stood up slowly, his hands where both siblings could see them, and he gave a small smile to Deborah, but Deborah was looking around worriedly.

"Nathan, we should leave. I'll come back in a few days, as soon as I can."

The sound the Beast did wasn't human, but Deborah seemed to understand it. She hugged the Beast's huge neck again, and Gabriel thought he almost could see a shadow of very human embarrasment within the Beast's face at the show of affection, but then, when it-he caught him looking, the Beast growled again.

He and Deborah didn't say much, up until they had to separate to go into the village, but, before they did, Deborah put a hand on his arm and looked at him and, to Gabriel, there was a little of the Beast there, in the fierce determination to keep her little brother safe.

"Don't do this again, please."

And although he was very curious, if there was one thing that Gabriel respected beyond everything else, it was family protecting family.

"Alright, I won't."

And for a few weeks he didn't. He didn't ask if Deborah was still going, merely asked for a new book as he finished the previous one, making small talk. He had to go once to the healer because he took a nasty fall from helping the thatcher fix a roof, since the thatcher's assistant had ran away. And he watched the Hunters go in the dozens and come back with just three or four of 'em, and then a family would arrive and swear that a Beast had killed the mountain lion that had been about to kill them, and he grew curiouser and curiouser about the Beast.

And then, there was an execution. The bookshop's owner, Deborah, and her husband, David, had been accused of aiding the terrible Beast and they were found guilty. It was very fast-- on a thursday, they were proclaimed guilty and witches. Over Friday, their bodies were burnt. Gabriel knew that he couldn't go and see Arran, because then he might get to be someone suspicious. And he suddenly knew what he had to do, and for that, he couldn't, shouldn't be anything that would garner anyone's doubts over him.

After a few days had gone after the execution, it was him who went to the forest to find the Beast. It-he growled at him, but Gabriel was a good person and all he could do was feel sad for the gentle healer at the village as well as for the dark eyed Beast who had seemed to love his sister so much. And yes, he was probably thinking of his own little sister, lost for good. They were both lonely creatures in pain, there was an empathy there, and when he told the Beast about Deborah, he didn't flinch at the howl of dismay it-he made and he simply found out that wolf-like nightmare creatures can cry, too.

He didn't ask anyone to do so, but he started doing what Deborah had been doing. Every few days he'd go to the healer and well, Arran was an attractive bloke and everyone simply thought that the cute foreigner was trying to chat up the healer. And then Arran would give him medicine and ointments meant for any injury that Nathan could have had, and Gabriel would go away, wait one day or two, and then he'd go as quiet as he knew how - which was quite a lot - and he'd go to the forest and to Nathan's den to help him with his wounds.

Except he did more than that. People whould have, eventually, missed Deborah, which was why her visits had to be short. No-one would miss Gabriel, so he spent a lot of time with Nathan during those nights, talking at first, then listening. Now, don't be daft, Nathan didn't have what was needed to talk. But that doesn't mean he didn't communicate, and, after Gabriel stopped trying to fill every moment, he started learning how to understand Nathan.

He hunted with him, ran after him, and Nathan, slowly, ever so slowly because his confidence had been shattered before, started trusting in Gabriel. And Gabriel, through his part, got to see the human that was mixed with the Beast and started considering him a friend. It was something like that, as well, for Nathan, and perhaps something deeper that the human in him didn't want to consider. Once burned twice shy, they say, and Nathan had been terribly shy from the beginning, but he did give Gabriel the enchanted knife, the knife that had, once upon a time, been able to turn him back into a man, even if he never made Gabriel understand why that was important, or what it meant for Nathan. And for Gabriel, well, my da always said that he looked depeer than the fur and the fangs and that he could see both the Beast and the Human, and that he was scared, too, because he remembered his curse, and the third part that was missing.

So Gabriel thought, maybe if I never say anything, if I don't acknowledge this love, then nothing will happen.

Well, yes. He was stupid, luvvie. Love makes you stupid and don't let anyone tell you any different. I mean, it does make you braver and stronger, but oh, the stupidity that love brings, I'm certain that it has killed more people than any war brought by any king.

Now. Remember Jessica, the sister-murderer, would-be-brother-murderer?

There is a story that could be said, about how Nathan's father had loved Jessica's mother even when she was married, about how both Cora Byrn and Marcus Edge had cuckolded Jessica's father and how the it-he Beast that had been Marcus had killed Jessica's father, and growing up with that hate and no-one to pour it, and perhaps it was true, but you know as well as I do, lad, that there if there was something sacred, it's family and Jessica had broken that, had prefered her hate than to love the siblings she shared a father with, if she couldn't love the one whose father had murdered hers. 

So this time she gathered as many hunters as she could, and there were plenty enough who wanted revenge on the it--he Beast. And they cut through the forest so they could create great fires over the edges so that Nathan couldn't go and hide, and they smoked and killed and you have seen, luvie, some of the twisted remains of what once were great oaks and elm trees, standing there like burned corpses and they went at dawn.

And if at first Nathan didn't know, the smoke was a good alarm. So the it-he Beast hunted, and once Gabriel, who had been at the village, learned of the plan, he grabbed his bow and arrows and he ran, not caring who saw him, who knew, and he ran as fast as he knew, bundle of arrows in his hand so he didn't lose time when he had to shoot and shoot he did, killing hunter after hunter, not daring to call for Nathan, but the fear for him beating inside his chest, burning his lungs faster than the smoke was doing it.

And in the end, it was Gabriel who brought Jessica to Nathan. Because see, dearie, Jessica didn't catch Nathan. She caught Gabriel. She shot him with her bow and arrow, clear through his thigh and Gabriel screamed. And he didn't know it then, but Nathan, who had been leaving through the secret wais that only someone who lived within the forest could learn about, heard him. And the it-he Beast turned around and ran as fast as it-he could.

Meanwhile, Jessica had Gabriel trapped against one of the highest cliffs

"So it's you who has been heping it after Deborah," Jessica snarled, making her pretty face something nasty. "Why would you help a murderous beast?"

And Gabriel, who should have really known better, gave her his best 'sod off' smile. But he was going to die, Gabriel was sure of it, and if it was telling Nathan's heinous oldest sister where she could stick her righteousness, well, he didn't mind.  
"Well, considering that Nathan has never killed any of his siblings before, if there's any kind of beast here, I'm guessing it's you."

So Jessica got her bow ready to shoot and Gabriel was sorry, so sorry that he wouldn't get to see Nathan again, hoping that he was safe, and he closed his eyes, and so he never saw the arrow fly, and he missed when the enormous Beast jumped between he and the arrow, missed how it stuck in his chest, and only opened his eyes with the howl of pain and Gabriel opened his eyes.

"No!"

Jessica laughed, victorious, but the Beast wasn't quite done and buried, not yet, not when the it-he also hated Jessica, just as much as Jessica hated it-him. And Jessica had nothing to protect her against its size, against its sharp fangs and claws, and the Beast used the last of its-his strength to tear Jessica's side and she fell down the cliff, with blood trailing behind her and that was that.

And with that last revenge, the last of the Beast's strength left him. He was dying, and Gabriel moved towards him, looking through the mist of his tears, his hands caressing Nathan's head. Nathan looked at him and wished that he could've told him what he felt, what he meant for him, how glad he was that he was alive.

"Don't die," Gabriel sobbed. "Please, don't die. I love you, don't die."

But there was nothing either of them could do. The arrow was too close to its-his heart, sea, and taking the arrow out would've killed him anyway, much slowler, much more painfully. And the Beast whined in pain and in loss, and Gabriel, still crying, took out his knife and Nathan looked at him and understood and he nodded, and Gabriel said one last 'I love you' and he killed 'him, he did. Well, don't be so shocked! It was out of love, he had to do it. It broke Gabriel's own heart, it nearly killed him in pain, but he did.  
But when Gabriel drew the knife out to-- well, da never said what for, but I get an idea that you and I both know why he wanted to do after that that, Gabriel was surprised that a bit of the Beast's fur seemed to lift. So he pulled and cut a bit more over where the fur was letting go, where it was no longer an animal's hide but something like an old and worn coat.

And underneath, bloody and naked as a babe, was Nathan, as he had once been and when the last of the rotting fur was moved away, Gabriel realized that Nathan had no injury whatsoever, because see, dearie, the arrow had been just right for a huge, monstrous wolf-Beast. But for a skinny lad of about seventeen, the arrow didn't even nick at him. The fur had two sizeable cuts, one where he had struck the knife, the other where the arrow had pierced and gone through the Beast.

But the man who was by his feet wasn't hurt.

Gabriel put his hand on Nathan's shoulder and rolled him over and then Nathan gasped for air and he breathed again and Gabriel sobbed, not even caring that he was still hurt. And then Nathan looked at him as if he had put all the stars over the sky.

"Gabriel," Nathan said, before he kissed Gabriel and broke the curse over him as well.

That's it, that's the story, or at least it's what my da told me. Well, they left town, still as poor as clumps of dirt, but very much in love and happy. They came around every now and then to visit Arran, but mostly they roamed through the world, free and safe from any curse and they loved each other until the day they died of old age.

Which is not a happily ever after, perhaps, but, in my opinion, it's just as good indeed.


End file.
